


ignition

by autumnchills



Series: halloween chills [2]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: BAMF Christopher Diaz, Clowns, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, Halloween, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Season/Series 02, Pre-Relationship, Scary Clowns, Strangulation, Whump, beta read because i’m scared of dying, but pick your battles, idk but just in case, is this crack, yes I know it's march
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:35:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23366302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumnchills/pseuds/autumnchills
Summary: Buck can still remember a couple of years back when there were stories across the country about people dressed as clowns, running around and scaring people. Most of the clowns were innocent— as innocent as someone with the sole intent of scaring someone half to death could be, at least— but some weren’t. Some were assholes that took the opportunity of anonymity to hurt people.It's only Buck's luck that he would encounter one of them.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan “Buck” Buckley & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: halloween chills [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994725
Comments: 56
Kudos: 444
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	ignition

Those fucking clowns are at it again.

That’s the only thing that half of the city can think about as Halloween approaches.

Buck can still remember a couple of years back when there were stories across the country about people dressed as clowns, running around and scaring people. Most of the clowns were innocent— as innocent as someone with the sole intent of scaring someone half to death could be, at least— but some weren’t. Some were sickos that took the opportunity of anonymity to hurt people. 

As far as Buck can tell, though, most of those crazier stories happened in central and southern states. He’d seen one story for all of LA County about a seriously creepy clown who had makeup painted to look like it was half cried off, but that was all.

However, this didn’t stop people from keeping off the streets more than normal by the time the sun started setting. Athena had told this to Bobby who told them, and even added that only one malicious clown was on record as far as she knew, but he was behind bars.

That didn’t stop Chimney from being scared. 

“You don’t actually think you’re going to go home and see a clown outside your  _ apartment _ door, do you?” Eddie asks.

The team, aside from Bobby, is chatting in a circle outside the locker rooms. 

“You never know,” the man defends. “He could be roaming around the complex.”

Correction: Eddie and Chimney are arguing about clowns, and Buck and Hen are watching with keen interest.

“But unless the clown was to get inside, there’s no way for it to terrorize  _ you _ . And do you actually think these clowns will hurt you?” Eddie’s scoffing at the mere idea.

Chimney is thoroughly terrified.

“Yes!” the man shouts back indignantly. “Well, maybe not all of them would, but you don’t know if the clown is good or bad.”

Which was true. There was no way of knowing if you were running into a prankster or a psycho if you were to come across one.

“Look,” Chimney continues. “You weren’t here three years ago when this first happened. You don’t understand the fear.”

“No, you’re right,” Eddie responds with a deadpan expression. “I was just in Texas, where absolutely nothing like this ever happened.” 

Hen snorts into her drink. “Chim, you are easily terrified of everything. Last Halloween you were scared of bats.”

“You have a phobia of bats?” Eddie asks. “Color me surprised.” 

He doesn’t sound surprised, though.

“It is not a fear. I am just scared because they are frightening. Like spiders are creepy, but I don’t cower at the thought of them.”

“Hey,” Eddie snaps, tone suddenly serious and pointing a finger at Chim. “Spiders are actually fear worthy.”

Buck laughs now. “Yeah. Eddie once called me over to kill a spider for him.”

“You were already on your way over!” Eddie shouts.

“You didn’t know that, though,” Buck reminds him.

“You didn’t know that, though,” Eddie mimics.

“Oh, wow,” Hen laughs. “You guys bounce such immature energy off of each other.” She waves her hand around in the air as if grasping for something. “Yep. I can feel it. Immaturity. Do you feel that Chim?”

Chim nods and starts waving his hand around in front of Buck’s face, grabbing at the air like Hen. “Oh yeah, I feel that.”

Buck promptly smacks his hand down and grunts. “You’re still the one afraid of snakes.”

“True,” Hen giggles. 

“Oh, this again?” Chimney asks, throwing his hands out in exasperation. “Are you ever going to let me live that down?”

“Hell no,” Buck assures him. “Hard to forget you nearly peeing your pants on a call.”

“In all fairness, that thing was huge,” Chimney defends himself. He turns to Eddie next. “That thing was at least ten feet long,” he says, then turns to Buck again. “And of course you would remember that call, you horn dog.”

“Oh! So uncalled for!” Buck shouts as Eddie makes a curious face.

“What’s his horniness have to do with it?” Eddie wonders aloud.

“Noth—”

“Everything,” Hen insists, interrupting Buck’s protests. 

Eddie promptly tilts his body closer to Hen, raising his eyebrows. “Do tell.” The man sounds absolutely scandalized. 

Buck watches as Hen whispers into Eddie’s ear, and Eddie’s face goes through a few different and very exaggerated expressions.

After a short moment, Eddie pulls away. “Shameful. I can’t believe I never knew about your dark past, Buck.” Chim starts laughing, and Bobby chooses that moment to wander out of his office.

“I hear some laughter. What’s going on now?” Bobby asks.

“Nothing,” Eddie replies nonchalantly in a way that’s very  _ not _ nonchalant with hands now clasped in front of him. “Just finding out about my best friend’s slutty past.”

Bobby snorts and shakes his head at his team’s shenanigans.

“You guys suck,” Buck complains. “Unfriended. Blocked.” He raises his hand in front of his face to block the others from view and turns to Bobby. “You’re the only one I can trust, Cap.”

Bobby raises an eyebrow as if to challenge him.

“Well, as much as this conversation is intriguing, I have heard enough about Buck’s sex life—”

“Thank you, Bobby.”

“— and Lord knows I literally  _ heard his sex life _ in his first months here,” the man rambles on.

“Bobby!” 

Hen breaks down into tears then, laughing so hard it sounds like she’s barely breathing. Bobby can’t help but laugh at his own joke, too.

“What are you guys even still doing here?” he asks them, more serious but a smile still playing on his lips.

“Wait. What time is it?” Hen asks, even as she checks her watch.

“Fifteen after the end of your guys’ shifts,” Bobby supplies. 

Hen and Eddie scramble at that, shouting goodbyes and heading to their lockers.

Chimney laughs at them and leans on the truck. “Families to get home to,” he comments. “It’s been a while.”

Buck laughs along with him until he remembers the day. “Don’t you have plans with Maddie tonight?” he asks. “Maddie was telling me how excited she was about that new movie.” 

“Nah,” Chimney replies. “That’s on Thursday.”

Buck laughs harder now. “Oh, man. Today is Thursday, Chim.”

Chimney stands up from his spot and looks at Bobby. “Please tell me the firehouse fool is kidding, Cap.”

Behind Chimney, Buck mouths ‘firehouse fool?’ at Bobby, but the captain ignores him in favor of responding to Chim.

“Kid’s not kidding,” he shrugs. “Better get a step on it.” 

Chimney does, wasting no time. 

The happiness radiating around the station is enough to leave a smile on Buck’s face as he follows after his teammates to the locker room.

That smile disappears the second he sees the look on Eddie’s face. He’s looking at his phone and his face is screwed up in something that walks the line between confusion and worry.

“Yo,” Buck calls to him. “What’s wrong? Is it Christopher?”

Eddie looks up at Buck, and his expression instantly changes. “No, no. He’s fine,” he assures. “He’s with my Abuela right now, but she’s got to take off to the airport soon, and I’m supposed to pick up dinner and stop by Costco first. I fell behind my own schedule,” he groans. 

“And I hate leaving Christopher in the car,” he continues, “but I hate taking him into Costco even more because he doesn’t fit in the cart seats anymore and there are too many inconsiderate assholes that—” Eddie cuts himself off and throws his phone down so he can pick up his shoes. “Sorry,” he says a second later. “A bit overwhelmed.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Buck replies. “Do you want me to pick up Chris?”

Eddie halts in his movements and looks up at Buck. “Are you sure?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Buck insists. “Unless you prefer to give me your credit card and the grocery list.” 

Eddie huffs in laughter but still seems a bit down. 

“Hey,” Buck catches his attention again, pulling Eddie out of his head. “Some good laughs with your friends after a long shift should not come at the price of all this stress now. Let me help.”

Buck can see Eddie visibly relax as he finishes tying his shoes. “Yeah,” Eddie says. “Okay. Christopher would love to see you anyway. You’re his favorite of my friends,” he adds. “Possibly tied with Bobby, but he won’t ever tell me for sure.”

Eddie pulls the laces tight as Buck starts changing into his civvies.

“I’ll send you the address right before I drive off,” he says, grabbing his duffle bag. “He’s gotta be picked up by quarter ‘till.”

“Quarter till,” Buck repeats. “Got it.” He sends Eddie a mock salute as the man takes off, bag bouncing off his body as he picks up the pace. 

“Wait!” Buck shouts after him a second later. “Quarter ‘till what?”

There’s no response, so he looks down at his watch.

Eh, he’s got this.

Buck  _ so _ doesn’t got this.

Because things like this are not supposed to happen to him. Especially not while the sun is still out.

Parking the car along the curb in front of Eddie’s house, Buck eyes Christopher through the center rear-view mirror, checking to see if he’s noticed. Luckily, the kid is still gathering some stuff into his bag that he’d accidentally spilled during the ride here.

He looks back to the street in front of him. The clown is still there.

Logically, he knew that reports of the clowns were real, but actually coming across one wasn’t something he thought would happen. What’s most alarming is the way the balloon itself rests on the floor, fully inflated, yet dragging on the ground.

_ How hasn’t it popped? _

He curses and shuts the engine off as fast as possible to get the headlights off. There’s still enough light in the sky for them not to be super obvious, but he’s not taking any chances.

“That’s a bad word,” Christopher giggles. “Swear jar!”

Buck would respond, but his focus is on the unmoving clown.

He wonders if the clown even noticed them and debates if it’d be safer to go into the house or take off driving and call the police.

He knows that most of these guys were just fucking around, but what if this one wasn’t? What if he actually calls the police and just gets an earful for calling for no reason? There’s no real threat… at least not that he can tell.

“Why aren’t we getting out?” Christopher speaks up again. “Are you okay?”

Buck laughs through his nerves. “I’m fine,” he assures him. “We’re going to take a little detour then come back in a couple of minutes, though. Sound okay?”

Christopher looks confused but nods nonetheless. “Okay, Buck,” he shrugs. 

“Okay, cool,” Buck mutters to himself, turning to face the front again.

The clown hasn’t moved, but he’s not taking any chances with it. With the clown’s focus on the house it’s standing in front of, Buck starts the car and does a quick u-turn back the way they came.

Without looking back, he leaves the street and decides to take the scenic route around the neighborhood. At the end of one of the streets, they catch a decent view of the setting sun, and he and Christopher marvel over it for a few more minutes than necessary.

“Wasn’t this worth the detour?” he asks Christopher. The boy just nods with a large smile on his face, orange hues reflecting off his glasses as he stares out the window.

When Buck returns to the street, only five or so minutes later, the clown is gone, and he lets out a sigh of relief. Driving at a slow pace, he rolls past the house that the clown had been standing in front of before.

The previous lifeless looking house now has its garage door open, and what looks like at least four people are taking grocery bags from a car to the house.

Buck figures the family arriving home must have scared off the clown, so he proceeds back to Eddie’s house.

When he gets out of the car, he does a double-check up and down the street, and with no sign of the clown, he pulls open the back door, helping Christopher get situated with his crutches.

The boy mumbles his thanks as Buck closes up the Jeep’s doors.

Together, they walk toward the front door and Buck sifts through his key ring for Eddie’s spare. Now that he thinks of it, he realizes he hasn’t used it— he hasn’t had the need to. He’s pretty thankful for that considering that he gave it to him for a reason. He’d done it at the advice of Bobby, who’d briefly explained a time that he was more than grateful to have had the foresight of giving his key to Hen. 

Much to both of their surprise, Eddie had arrived at the next shift with his spare key and handed it to Buck. At Buck’s questioning glance, Eddie had shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. 

“I’ve seen what you’ve done to help me with my kid already,” Eddie said. “I know you’ve got my back if I ever need you.”

And he had. 

Buck snaps back to the present as he unlocks the door, and just as he starts to wonder where Eddie is, his phone chimes, alerting him of a text.

“Well, buddy,” he says, reading over the message, “it looks like you’re stuck with me just a bit longer.”

When he doesn’t hear Chris immediately respond, he knows something is wrong. He looks down at the kid at his side, but he’s looking behind them.

“What’s wr—” His own question dies on his lips as he glances back.

It’s the fucking clown, and he’s standing at the edge of the property on the curb. Buck’s heart drops into his stomach. For a moment, they’re all just standing there. Buck takes in the clown—  _ person _ . Buck needs to remember that it’s just a person.

Except that this person is creepily dressed like a clown. 

When the person moves his arm, Buck’s eyes dart down to his hand. He’s holding a knife that he hadn’t been before.

_ What the actual fuck? _

Only a second passes, then he moves on pure instinct, snatching Christopher up and dragging him into the house. The clown moves at the same time.

He slams it shut and has it locked just in time for the clown to ram into it.

“Buck,” Christopher cries out quietly, still in his arms. 

Buck’s heart nearly breaks as it pounds away in his chest. Another bang reverberates off the door and into the entryway. It startles them both. 

“Buck,” Christopher calls again, hands digging into his shirt. 

“I— I know,” Buck stammers out, breathless. His eyes skirt around the room. In his own apartment, he knows immediately where to dash for a bat and would be darting out there after the guy. Right now, he has no idea what to use and he’s got an arm full of kid to worry about.

_ Call 911 _ , his brain tells him.

Buck moves to do so, jumping as another hit lands on the door. He has no doubt in his mind that he should call the police now.

He sets Christopher down, placing himself between the boy and the main entrance, and reaches for the phone. He barely has the '9' button entered before the shattering of glass interrupts his thoughts. He glances back and sees the clown stepping over the window sill.

“Are you kidding me?!” Buck actually yells.  _ What the fuck was going on? _

“Buck!” Christopher shouts.

Buck turns and swoops Christopher into his arms again and dashes down the hall to Eddie’s room, hoping to buy enough time to find a way to keep them safe. 

“Chris, does your dad have a bat?” he asks breathlessly as he shuts the door. 

Christopher shakes his head, and a bang on the bedroom door startles the boy so hard that he trips backward and hits the wall.

_ This is really happening _ , Buck thinks. He’s going to have to defend themselves against a fucking clown.

After the year he’s had, Buck is really wondering what the hell he did in his past life to deserve some of this shit. 

Things happen fast then, Buck letting his fight or flight instincts kick into gear. It’s not just his own life on the line, it’s Christopher’s, too. 

He moves Chris into the bathroom as another bang echoes, and he swears he can hear wood splintering. He doesn’t even know what directions he’s giving the boy, but the kid nods back and the bathroom door closes with a resounding click.

Then Buck is facing the bedroom door again. He’s tall and strong, so he’s sure he can take the dude. Not to mention that he and Maddie had taken self-defense classes together and kept up some of the workouts together before everything with the bomb on the truck. He may be a little rusty, but—

Buck suddenly remembers the knife.

He’s going to have to disarm him first.

The door handle rattles under the force of another blow, and this time there’s definitely some wood splintering.

He hears Christopher talking— nearly crying— but Buck can’t tell what he’s saying, not over the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears and adrenaline pumping through his veins.

Then the door flies open, wood from the door frame tearing off with it.

_Buck_ _moves_.

His body makes offensive and defensive moves faster than his conscious mind can even register what he’s done. It’s not until after he’s grabbed the guy by the wrist that Buck realizes that he was two inches from being sliced at. It’s not until after he punches the guy across the face that he realizes that the dude had switched directions and definitely gotten a swipe in.

There’s a sting across his cheek that he doesn’t realize is there until a familiar pain radiating from his arm joins it.

He knocks the knife to the ground at the same time the clown gains the upper hand and has Buck on the ground, too. 

His back hits the floor first, but his head smacks down right after, dazing him. It slows him down, and Buck doesn’t see the clown’s hands reaching for his neck before it’s too late.

That’s when things slow down. Buck struggles to kick up and get the guy off of him, but it doesn’t work. He punches at the person’s arms and pushes at his face, but his vision starts to blur and darken around the edges. His lack of oxygen slows him down all too much.

But then, out of the corner of his vision and at the edge of the darkness, he sees the flash of yellow. 

Christopher stands behind the clown, and Buck wants to yell for him to  _ run _ . Leave him behind and don’t look back. 

Buck would let himself go right now if it meant keeping that kid alive, but he has to keep fighting because he knows what will actually happen if he doesn’t.

Then yellow turns into orange, and the guy above him is screaming. He lurches away from Buck and stumbles into the bedroom wall. Buck hasn’t even caught his breath before he’s scrambling away from the flailing form and scooping Christopher away. 

Christopher drops whatever he was holding and Buck glances back to see what the kid could have possibly done to the guy. 

Apparently,  _ light him on fucking fire _ .

Buck looks to the ground for whatever Chris dropped, and sure enough, there’s a lighter and a can of Lysol disinfectant spray.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Buck mutters, throat raw and voice cracking.

Sound starts registering in real-time then. Christopher is crying and the dude is still screaming— Buck doesn’t think it’s been more than ten seconds as he’s registered this all in his head.

The guy screams in pure agony and collides into the wall. His shirt is what caught the flames, but if Buck doesn’t move, the guy is going to die and burn the house down with it.

Eddie didn’t really have any expectations for what he’d find when he arrived home, but he definitely hadn’t expected to come home to two different squad cars, a fire truck, and two ambulances.

At first, he can’t even tell that they’re in front of his house because he spies the vehicles from down the street, but as he gets closer, the realization hits.

With all the vehicles surrounding his property, he can’t even pull into the driveway. He parks two houses down and runs up to all the chaos, bypassing anyone who tries to slow him down.

From where he stands, he spies the broken glass window first, the one that leads to the living room. 

“Christopher?!” 

He yells at the same time that an officer approaches him, saying something that doesn’t register as actual words in his ears.

He rounds on the man. “Where’s my—”

“Dad!”

Eddie’s head snaps up toward the ambulance vehicles. One is taking off, but in the back of another, rests his son, firmly tucked into Buck’s arms.

He runs toward them without waiting for whatever the officer might have to say and nearly shoves the paramedic out of the way to get to them.

“Eddie—” 

Eddie pulls Buck and Christopher into his arms before his friend can finish whatever he was about to say. He presses frantic kisses into Christopher’s hair and doesn’t second guess himself as he does the same to Buck.

“What the hell happened?” he asks when he finally pulls away. He notices the paramedic still standing there and moves aside so that the woman can go back to assessing a cut on Buck’s face. It’s thin and doesn’t look like it’ll need stitches, but it’s bleeding nonetheless.

“You’d never be—” Buck is cut off by a sharply raised eyebrow from the paramedic and shushing from his own son.

The paramedic glances quickly at Eddie before turning back to Buck with an antiseptic wipe.

“Your friend here should not be talking right now. It’s best for the swelling to go down first. I’d say to give it a day or so.”

Eddie feels himself squint in confusion. “Swelling?”

Buck sighs and tilts his head up. With the sun already set and the main source of lighting coming from the ambulance itself, it takes a second for Eddie’s eyes to adjust.

His eyes widen as he recognizes the shape that the faint bruises have taken on. 

“Who did this?” Eddie demands immediately. “I’m going to find this son of a—”

“Oh,” a voice exclaims from behind him, glee evident in their voice. “Your  _ son _ already took care of the guy who did this.”

A different police officer than the one he first saw comes into view then.

“Officer Dee,” he introduces himself to Eddie. “I take it you’re Edmundo Diaz?”

Eddie nods his head. 

“Why don’t I fill you in then?”

And he does. He speaks factually about a 9-1-1 call that they received about a home invasion. He informs him of Buck’s side of the events as well as Christopher’s because both have already been questioned. When he gets to the bit about his son lighting the intruder on fire, Eddie has to stop him.

“Woah, woah, woah,” he waves his hands around. He turns to Chris. “You did what?”

Buck snorts as Christopher’s eyes well with tears again.

“I’m sorry,” he says, hanging his head shamefully. “I– I know it’s bad, b–but the clown was hurting Buck.”

“Hey,” Eddie calls softly, lowering himself to a crouch in front of his son. He brings his hands into his own and kisses the tops of them. “Mijo, no, you have nothing to be sorry for. You were protecting your Buck, okay? From what I’m hearing, you saved him from the—”

Clown. 

That was the word his son had just muttered.

“Clown?” he asks incredulously, eyes widening impossibly further. He faces the officer again. “I think you left an important bit out there.” 

“Well, to be honest, I didn’t believe it myself until I saw it with my own two eyes,” Dee says. “I didn’t want you thinking I was joshin’ you around.”

Eddie nods slowly as he lets all the information settle in. He looks between Christopher and Buck. Buck’s staring at Chris with a smile on his face despite the horrors they’ve seen today. 

“Is there going to be any problems moving forward?” he asks the officer. 

The man looks confused for all of two seconds before glancing at Christopher. The man shakes his head. “I don’t believe so. Neighbors had reported the creep lurking around earlier this afternoon, but no one actually had anything confrontational with him. As long as their stories line up with the report from dispatch, everything should be okay. Your son saved your friend here. No one’s questioning whether or not it was self-defense.”

Eddie nods and takes a deep breath. It’s a weight off of his chest that he didn’t notice he had. Eddie had no doubt about his son’s intentions, but the law had a funny way of not always working in favor of the true innocent ones in this country.

“You hear that?” Buck whispers, nudging Christopher. “You saved me.”

Christopher scrunches his eyebrows. “I hurt him, though.”

Both Buck and Eddie are at a loss on how to respond at that point. Eddie’s always raised his son with the idea that violence is never the answer, but in this case, it was to an extent.

“I’ll tell you what, kiddo.” The officer steps forward, standing just behind Eddie. “Violence isn’t always a solution, but that typically falls in line with problems that have other solutions. Today, it seemed like the first solution was to call for help, right?” 

Chris nods.

“Well, you did that,” the officer says. “But then after that, your buddy Buck was still in danger. What you did was a survival instinct. Sometimes people run and hide, but you used that brain of yours to take action and help. Something tells me that your friend here would be a bit more hurt if you hadn’t stepped in.”

Dead, is more like it. Each of the adults there is thinking it, but none of them dare to acknowledge it out loud.

“In my personal opinion,” Dee goes on, “I think you’re a hero. And as long as you know when it’s okay and not okay to take certain measures, you’re going to be just fine.”

“Yeah?” Chris whispers shyly. 

“Oh yeah,” Buck whispers.

Everyone is quick to shush him, and Buck laughs silently as he pulls Chris in a little closer.

Things wrap up quickly after that. Buck politely declines a trip to the hospital, though it’s not really recommended he need to go anyway. He is told about the foods he should avoid and how long he can expect swelling to last. The cuts themselves are shallow, just enough to warrant tape and gauze. 

The injuries make Eddie a little nervous and leave him feeling a bit like a mother hen, but Buck is quick to shoo him away and help him take care of stuff. 

With the largest window to his house in pieces, it’s decided pretty quickly that Eddie and Christopher are staying the night elsewhere— elsewhere being Buck's at the man’s insistence. For now, Eddie makes a lame attempt at boarding up the window with spare plywood from an old project, and Buck helps unload groceries while Chris packs an overnight bag.

Surprisingly enough, it’s weirdly calming. Maybe it’s unfair of Eddie to say, considering all that his best friend and son went through not even an hour ago, but with things settled and the clown behind bars, there’s a certain atmosphere of warmth in hearing people move about the house. Christopher may be loud and a little too energetic for him to manage sometimes, but never had the house felt so full.

He finishes up the window and sweeps up the glass in no time. At this point, he knows that Buck is done taking care of the food because the kitchen light is off, so he makes a beeline for Christopher’s room.

“Hey,” he calls out as he makes his way down the hall, “you guys almost—” The sentence dies on his lips as he enters the room.

Buck is sitting on the bed and leaning against the headboard, one leg extended across the mattress and the other with the foot planted firmly on the floor. Chris is fast asleep at his side, head pillowed against the man’s shoulder. His overnight bag is at the end of the bed.

Buck looks up at him as he enters.

“Ready to go?” Buck asks.

Eddie frowns at the sound of his voice. “Yeah, but you really do need to stop talking man. Your voice sounds awful.”

“Kinda what happens when you get strangled,” Buck remarks with a nose scrunch.

Eddie doesn’t mean to, but he flinches at the reminder.

“Hey, no, I’m okay,” Buck says immediately. 

Eddie steps further into the room, coming up to Buck’s side. “But you almost weren’t, and I—” He finds himself at a loss for words. 

“Thank you for saving him,” Eddie says. Buck opens his mouth to interrupt, but he raises his hand to stop him. “I know that Chris saved you, and that’s true, but I also got the clear picture that you went against a man wielding a knife to protect him first.”

Eddie takes a breath before going on. “You keep saving him. You keep helping me with him in any way you can, and I just want to say thanks, man. It… it really means so much that you have my back, but it means even more to know you got my kid’s, too.”

Buck nods, and Eddie doesn’t miss the way he blinks away tears before they fall. “I love him,” he says— as if it’s all the explanation he needs to offer for how much he’s done for him. Eddie knows people who love Christopher but wouldn’t risk their lives or go out of their way so many times for him. 

“I know you do.” Eddie smiles at him. “Now, what do you say we get out of here and finally get some dinner?”

“Mi casa es su casa,” Buck responds with a bit more cheer, already moving to pick up Christopher. 

It stirs a warm feeling in his chest that Eddie hasn’t felt in a long time— not since Shannon. Something that he prefers not to explore right now but knows is going to creep up on him soon enough.

Only Evan Buckley can make the end of a long day feel like the start of something new, and he’s one hundred percent okay with that. 

“Hey,” Eddie says to Chris over dinner an hour later. “Who taught you how to do that thing with the Lysol spray and lighter?”

“YouTube,” Chris shrugs. “They kill bugs.”

Eddie isn’t sure he wants to know who ‘they’ is.

“Hey,” Buck calls his attention next. “You know who’s going to have an absolute field day when they hear about this?”

Eddie jerks his chin in question.

“Chimney,” Buck laughs.

_ Oh _ ,  _ he sure will _ . 

**Author's Note:**

> Special Thanks to my beta reader: [soft_satan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soft_satan/pseuds/soft_satan)
> 
> So, this fic was in the works for actual _months_. I started it not long before Halloween, but then the inspiration for my soft Halloween fic took over and I posted that one only. Hopefully you all enjoyed this even though it was really light on the Buddie! Let me know what y'all think!
> 
> Please leave comments and kudos, as they always encourage me to write more! If you feel I missed some necessary story tags, please let me know what it is I should add.


End file.
